A long-term vision for Solomon Pond Mall

When Ken E. Brown graduated from college with dreams of becoming an advertising copywriter, he thought he would never look at another number again, let alone spend much of his future job crunching them.

But as the new area general manager of the Solomon Pond Mall in Marlboro, Mr. Brown said, a little reluctantly, that now he actually enjoys accounting, which is just one facet of the busy life he leads at the center of the regional mall. He is also general manager of the Greendale Mall in Worcester. Both malls are owned by the Simon Property Group.

Mr. Brown brings 21 years of experience in mall management to his new job and a business philosophy that focuses on the changes he can make to improve the short-term and long-term future of the Solomon Pond Mall.

“I think the philosophy is to come in to a property and try to determine pretty quickly what you can do to benefit the property on a short-term basis. Then, get a sense for the property; every property has its own character, its own dynamic,” he said.

It is all about figuring out what the property needs right away, and combining that with a tailored approach to the future, the same approach an advertising client would take in creating a campaign for a new client.

“You come in to the situation and you figure out what you can do pretty quickly to make things even more efficient or whatever you can do to make an impact initially,” Mr. Brown said.

Already, Mr. Brown has implemented many physical changes to the Marlboro mall, starting with updated restrooms, which feature sleek stone tiling and state-of-the-art hand dryers. Couches and other soft seats were added throughout the mall as well as automatic sliding doors.

And the changes aren’t stopping there. More facelifts will include new food court furniture to replace the outdated candy-colored chairs and tables from the 1980s.

All of these changes play into the overarching philosophy Mr. Brown brings.

“I think the biggest change in the past year, and it’s a company philosophy, too, is a real focus on trying to enhance the shopper experience, to make it more pleasant, make it more comfortable, make it more appealing,” said Mr. Brown.

The Solomon Pond Mall is not Mr. Brown’s first makeover. At the River Oaks Center in Chicago he oversaw more than $13 million in renovations.

The next step in Mr. Brown’s plan is to work on a more long-term vision for Solomon Pond Mall, to help it grow and bolster its role as a “super regional mall.”

To implement this, Mr. Brown is handling several roles, from development, to dealing with lease responsibilities, to housekeeping and security.

Mr. Brown said all the changes, from the facelifts to the philosophy, are not meant to establish Solomon Pond Mall as a competitor of the nearby Natick Mall, as some have suggested, but to provide different levels of product. Solomon Pond Mall is more of a traditional mall, Mr. Brown said, as opposed to the more luxury-based Natick Mall.

Mr. Brown got his start at the Simon Property Group after graduating from Towson University in Maryland in 1991. He applied to a local Simon Property mall near his Maryland home, where he had shopped as a child, and entered the company in a marketing administrative position.

“For someone getting out of college, like I was, looking for an education in an industry, it’s been a pretty great job because you really have an opportunity to get involved in any part of the business that you want to insert yourself into,” said Mr. Brown, of his start at Simon Property.